mtuandrew wrote:Wiedefeld also wants to inspect the faulty boots that were fingered last year by the NTSB, in addition to the cables that were inspected appx a year ago.

He's spoken with Transportation Secretary Foxx and the NTSB, and also the Mayor of Washington and other local officials. Metro employees and consultants will be performing the inspection. The Metro chairman and Board supports Wiedefeld's decision, and acknowledges how hard the commute will be.

I think one of the reasons that Metro is shutting down tomorrow vs the weekend is that this weekend is the start of the Cherry Blossom Festival which is a major tourist attraction for the next three weeks. From what I recall, the system has weekend ridership compatible to weekday levels during this time. The only difference is that commuters could handle this situation (and emergency situations) better than tourists, hopefully.

The system closure won't be popular but I will give Wiedefeld credit on this one. At least he is taking safety seriously and doing something about it. That's more than most of the previous GM's and management teams in place.

Gotta love Alstom. Every year on opening day of hunting season, it is a paid holiday!

They didn't mention additional cleaning and inspection in the press conference that I heard (I had to tune out halfway through), but I bet they'll notice and fix any problem areas as soon as they're done with the cables.

The threat of any more problems concerning electrical feeder cables and related gear had to be significant enoughto shut down the Metro for Wednesday - I will agree with SF85 noting that this is the beginning of Cherry BlossomSeason in Washington and closing Metrorail for one of the weekend days was not an option.The annual four weekCherry Blossom Festival with the large amount of tourists visiting Washington is one of the busiest tourist periodsfor the District - and Metrorail ridership outside of Summer events and the every 4 years Presidential Inauguration.

Metro should take this shutdown advantage and do needed work around the system. The Washington,DC region &area has depended on Metrorail as it has grown and expanded noting that the 40th Anniversary of the first Metroline segment opening: Red Line from Farragut North to Rhode Island Avenue (for those who do not know) is only 12 days away (3/27/1976) and instead of something celebratory this unprecedented shutdown for maintenance is what Metrorail's regular riders will probably remember most instead about the month of March 2016.

It will be very interesting to see how MARC and VRE handle extra passengers and how Metrobus and otherarea bus operators cope with added traffic and riders in the absence of Metrorail for this one day closure.

MACTRAXX

Last edited by MACTRAXX on Wed Mar 16, 2016 11:51 am, edited 4 times in total.

EXPRESS TRAIN TO NEW YORK PENN STATION-NO JAMAICA ON THIS TRAIN-PLEASE STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING TRAIN DOORS

This may be the first time that an entire rapid transit system has been shut down since 9/11.

The entire MBTA system (rapid transit, bus, and commuter rail) was shut down the entire day on April 19, 2013 while the authorities searched for the Boston Marathon Bombing suspects; limited bus and rapid transit service resumed at around 8pm. It might have been shut down earlier in the evening the previous day as well; all buses and trains resumed their regular schedules the next day. I think that particular shutdown lasted longer than even the suspension of the NYC subway and commuter trains (plus Amtrak and Shore Line East) on 9/11. Service actually resumed in a relatively short period of time.

Now having an entire subway system completely shut down for 24+ hours during the middle of the work week to allow a ton of wiring to be inspected, repaired, and replaced as a precaution sounds extremely unprecedented.

Metro has really stepped up their bus game for today. At Pentagon Station today, there was absolutely no trouble transferring from my regular 21A/D to a waiting special 16X (which wasn't charging a fare today.) WMATA also had many, many extra bus drivers on duty, and pulled out as many buses could roll. Kudos, guys.

mtuandrew wrote:They didn't mention additional cleaning and inspection in the press conference that I heard (I had to tune out halfway through), but I bet they'll notice and fix any problem areas as soon as they're done with the cables.

NBC 4 showed footage from a helicopter showing Metro workers repairing a platform, though I could not tell what station. So, it does look like other work - whether scheduled or not - is getting done.

I wonder what precedent this will set in terms of Metro tackling other system-wide issues during an entire system, or line, shutdown. For example, closing the entire Red Line for 24 hours over the weekend in order to clean the third rail, or insulators. Similarly, close the entire Yellow/Blue line in VA to clean right of way, etc. If the DC region can handle this with a few hours notice AND during a weekday, I can see this being something we could handle on a weekend during non-tourist season with lots of advance notice.